Building Communities Fund - Donations roundup

A broad range of charities, clubs and schools across Scotland, have just been awarded a donation from our Building Communities Fund. The deserving recipients vary from sports clubs to interfaith organisations and advocates for disability awareness and improved mental health:

• £500 was donated to Interfaith Glasgow – a charity which promotes engagement between different faith and belief communities. Their Weekend Club (WC) seeks to address social isolation experienced by ‘New Scots’; asylum seekers and refugees in Glasgow, by inviting them to events to help them to make friends, get to know Glasgow better, enjoy a good meal, improve their English and learn about Scottish culture.

• £500 was donated to Ayr United Womens Football Club – which currently runs teams from age 7 through to 17, with 110 registered players. The aim of the Club is to provide a safe environment and to encourage and promote the development of football and health throughout Ayrshire through the provision of senior and youth teams for women and girls, with opportunities for all.

• £500 was donated to Young Enterprise Scotland – an organisation which inspires young people to learn and succeed through enterprise. Their Pathways Programme for 14-16 year olds is aimed at those who are disengaged from traditional education & at risk of exclusion, helping them achieve more than they thought possible and vastly improve their self-confidence and skills.

• £1,000 was donated to East Renfrewshire Disability Action – a charity which aims to achieve equality for disabled people in East Renfrewshire by the promoting inclusiveness, raising awareness of the impact of disability and supporting people through it, as well as campaigning and lobbying at local and national level.

Also, two “in kind” donations were agreed by judges, to directly benefit organisations with Mactaggart & Mickel employees’ expertise in engineering, design and building, and materials and labour:-

171st Glasgow (1st Whitecraigs) Scout Group recently required some much-needed insulation works done to the roof of their Broomcroft premises, which has been their home since 1953, and so they approached us for our knowledge, skill and insight as we have been a long-term supporter of many of their fundraising events and activities. The Scout Group submitted an application via the BCF requesting practical and advisory assistance in lieu of funds, and, after a visit to the hall by Contracts Manager George Dow, a recommendation was made to install a sheeted ceiling to make better use of the rafters space for insulation. The detail of the new ceiling configuration has now been investigated and developed by our Architectural Manager Chris McWilliams, based on George’s measurements and photos, for onward submission to an insulation contractor.

Secondly, some of the pupils at Eaglesham Primary School undertook a project to build a greenhouse out of recycled plastic bottles to grown their own plants including fennel, lavender and beetroot. The structure, which incorporates a staggering 1,700 plastic bottles was designed and built in timber with the aid of Mactaggart & Mickel Homes employees, some of whom are parents of pupils at the school; Architectural Manager Susan Wilson, Joiner MacGregor Perry and Contracts Manager Jamie McLean. While the plastic bottles were all collected by pupils, the materials for the timber structure of the greenhouse were donated by Mactaggart & Mickel Homes.

All Building Communities Fund applications are carefully reviewed by panels of judges comprised of Mactaggart & Mickel Group employees, ensuring that the donations are made to a varied range of organisations and charitable groups.